I haven't finished yet. When I do I'll try to give a complete review, but there are so many fascinating stories that I can't wait til the end to share what I read the other night.
According to the book Mary Shelley turned the manuscript to Frankenstein into the publisher just two weeks before giving birth to her daughter Clara. As the story goes, the idea started out as a competition at a dinner party with some other Romantic friends after a discussion of recent experiments trying to restore life to deceased animals and people through electrocution using the recently invented voltaic battery. The other participants created poems and essays that are interesting but none so lasting or as intensive a work as Mary's. I don't love the book Frankenstein but knowing that she wrote it while pregnant makes me want to read it again. The whole book deals with the responsibilities of creating life and the disastrous effects a new creation can have on the creators existence.
This has me thinking a lot of things but mainly - Drat! I should have harnessed my pregnancy angst to write a novel that would get me some money, launch a new genre (sci fi) and become a world renowned classic. Such a missed opportunity!
I'd write more about it but I'm really tired. So check it out for yourself.
2 comments:
Those romantics were a wild bunch! I love them. And I think I also need to re-read Frankenstein after having experienced the weird monstrosity of pregnancy.
i heard a story similar to that about the genesis of "dracula," i believe. hm, i think that's the one.
it does sound like an interesting book. will and i attended b's american lit survey course last week and attended the romantics class. so it's been running through my mind, at least the american version, lately too.
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